Sunday, November 11, 2007

A Bit of Whimsy and a Bit of That

Bit of Whimsy won impressively on Saturday in the G2 Mrs. Revere Stakes at Churchill, digging in to hold off a late challenge by Ciao. I like what Barclay Tagg said afterwards, especially the part about bringing her back to race next year:

Bit of Whimsy’s two-year-old half-sister (by Petionville, out of El Prado mare Kristi B) Kristi with a K was entered in a MSW (1 mile turf) at Aqueduct on November 2, but did not draw into the field as an alternate entry. She’s also trained by Barclay Tagg, and has been working steadily since early September. Keep your eye out for her. [UPDATE: Kristi with a K posted a bullet work at Belmont on Sunday morning, going 4 furlongs in 48.46 (1/19)]

It appears her disappointing seventh place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff has had no ill-effect on Tough Tiz’s Sis, as she posted a bullet 5 furlongs in 58.80 (1/49) at Santa Anita on Saturday. She was recently honored as three-year-old filly of the Oak Tree meet, and her victory over Hystericalady in the grade 1 Lady’s Secret was the race of the meet.

My beloved Southwestern Heat posted a blazing 3 furlong work today at Laurel, 35.00, best of 11. Not sure where he is aiming at next…I doubt they would attempt the grade 1 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel on November 24, which is probably a little too ambitious this late in the year (although he certainly is looking better of late, especially with that problem of lugging in and out in the stretch). There’s the grade 3 $100,000 Gravesend Handicap (6f) at Aqueduct on December 16, the $75,000 Christmas Stakes (6f) at Mountaineer on December 22, or the $50,000 Holiday Cheer Stakes (6f) at Turfway on December 29. Who knows? If his connections are reading, there is a small (but rabid!) group of Southwestern Heat fans that would love to know :)

In the meanwhile, enjoy this baby picture of the boy, with his champion dam Xtra Heat. My profound thanks to Laurie Asseo for allowing me to share these wonderful photos with everyone.

Fellow TBA blogger The Chalk recently noted young jockey Channing Hill’s innate ability to bring home longshots, a point certainly driven home by his results at Aqueduct in the past couple of days. On Thursday, he brought in a pair of nice winners—Brazenly Bold ($12.00) in race 1, and the Giant’s Causeway colt Port Royal ($19.60) in the sixth. On Friday, he guided Express to Thewest ($27.40) to the win in race 2, while on Saturday in race 3, Farleyshelongwheels ($11.00) placed, in race 4 System Restore paid $17.40 to show, and Soulshine paid $7.50 to show in race 9.

I'll bet they run Southwestern Heat in the DeFrancis Dash, unless the field comes up really tough (as it often does). I agree it would be very ambitious, but if he's still looking as good as he did in the Sonny Hine, who knows?